Although a declared opponent of "spin" and "focus group obsessions", David Davis was not averse to borrowing some of New Labour's presentational tricks: "modern conservatives" - all fashionably lower-case - is the slogan he ran under, and his campaign launch was a slick affair.

He is firmly on the right of the party - Eurosceptic, anti-abortion, pro-capital punishment, and has voted against equalising the age of homosexual consent and it was no surprise that when he quit the contest that he offered his support to Iain Duncan Smith. In recent weeks he has called for a genuine debate on the legalisation of drugs, though he himself opposes the decriminalisation of cannabis.

In a "vision" speech during the current leadership campaign he declared that the party had to "[take] head on the argument that higher taxes will lead to better public services" and said the NHS required "radical surgery". He also called for 30,000 more police officers.

On the European single currency, the issue that divides the Conservatives like no other, he has strongly defended the policy on which the Tory Party fought the last election: no to entry for the duration of the current parliament. David insisted "it is absurd to believe that we can simply abandon our stance on it. Because our policy is right."